[Web4lib] Web technologies and public access

[John Fereira]

At 09:57 AM 2/1/2008, Chris Alhambra wrote:
>On Feb 1, 2008 12:48 AM, Cary Gordon <listuser at chillco.com> wrote:
>
> > I disagree. Adobe has put millions of dollars with good effect into
> > making Acrobat and Flash accessible, and you can certainly build a
> > Flash site that is compliant with any WCAG priority level. I don't
> > particularly promote Flash for Web content or navigation, but to say
> > or imply that it hinders accessibility is wrong.
> >
> > Cary Gordon, MLS
> > The Cherry Hill Company
> > http://www.chillco.com
> >
> >
>
>I was responding to the original post about the use of Flash and not
>providing HTML-only equivalents.  In that case, the Flash-only pages are
>indeed obstacles to accessibility.
>
>But, OK, hooray for Adobe's spending millions to make its expensive
>technology accessible.  [I'm not even going to comment on the industry that
>has grown around Section 508.]

Okay, then I will.

As I see it, the industry primarily revolves around lots of tools 
which tell developers "you are not Section 508 compliant" and there 
are lots of people that will be eager to point out web site 
accessibility issues.

It's real easy for lots of people to write critical email messages to 
developers describing how they can't access their site because 
they're using a text base browser or fringe platform (I consider a 64 
bit unix platform to be an example).   However, what I don't see are 
people offering solutions or resources for the developers out there 
trying to produce innovative web applications.


John Fereira
jaf30 at cornell.edu
Ithaca, NY